Correcting basin-scale snowfall in a mountainous basin using a distributed snowmelt model and remote-sensing data

Abstract

Abstract. Adequate estimation of the spatial distribution of snowfall is critical in hydrologic modelling. However, this is a well-known problem in estimating basinscale snowfall, especially in mountainous basins with data scarcity. This study focuses on correction and estimation of this spatial distribution, which considers topographic effects within the basin. A method is proposed that optimises an altitude-based snowfall correction factor (C fsnow ). This is done through multi-objective calibration of a spatially distributed, multilayer energy and water balance-based snowmelt model (WEB-DHM-S) with observed discharge and remotely sensed snow cover data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The Shuffled Complex Evolution-University of Arizona (SCE-UA) automatic search algorithm is used to obtain the optimal value of C fsnow for minimum cumulative error in discharge and snow cover simulations. Discharge error is quantified by NashSutcliffe efficiency and relative volume deviation, and snow cover error was estimated by pixel-by-pixel analysis. The study region is the heavily snow-fed Yagisawa Basin of the Upper Tone River in northeast Japan. First, the system was applied to one snow season (2002)(2003), obtaining an optimised C fsnow of 0.0007 m −1 . For validation purposes, the optimised C fsnow was implemented to correct snowfall in 2004, 2002 and 2001. Overall, the system was effective, implying improvements in correlation of simulated versus observed discharge and snow cover. The 4 yr mean of basin-average snowfall for the corrected spatial snowfall distribution was 1160 mm (780 mm before correction). Execution of sensitivity runs against other model input and parameters indicated that C fsnow could be affected by uncertainty in shortwave radiation and setting of the threshold air temperature parameter. Our approach is suitable to correct snowfall and estimate its distribution in poorly gauged basins, where elevation dependence of snowfall amount is strong.

Slope Environmental Lapse Rate (SELR) of Temperature in the Monsoon Regime of the Western Himalaya

“…Deriving reliable precipitation information over the high altitude regions of the Himalaya, especially measuring snowfall is a big challenge (Ménégoz et al, 2013;Shrestha et al, 2014). Hence, precipitation data are used only for describing the regional climatology.…”

Evaluation of global fine-resolution precipitation products and their uncertainty quantification in ensemble discharge simulations

“…WEB-DHM has been used in several evaluations and applications (Wang et al, 2010a(Wang et al, , b, 2012Shrestha et al, 2014). WEB-DHM input data include precipitation, temperature, downward solar radiation, long-wave radiation, air pressure, wind speed, and humidity.…”

Optimizing Snowfall Correction Factor for Radar-Amedas Precipitation Using Distributed Snow Model (Web-DHM-S) and Modis Snow Cover Data

“…An optimal value of the SCF is attained using the SCE-UA 10) automatic search algorithm that estimates the snowfall that should have likely to be occurred for the minimization of the objective function. The overall goal is to minimize the difference between the observed runoff and simulated runoff at basin outlet and the difference between the MODIS derived snow cover area (SCA) and simulated SCA in the basin following the method proposed by Shrestha et al 22) . The overview of the methodology is shown in Fig.…”